Chairman Lesley Field, the Acting Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, convened the 54th meeting of the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board (CASB) on September 30, 2008 at 9:00 A.M. The meeting was held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, 1750 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC. Board Members Mses. April Stephenson and Kathleen Turco, as well as Messrs. Bruce Timman and Richard Wall were present. Also in attendance were Messrs. Eric Shipley, CAS Board Staff; and Raymond Wong, CAS Board Director. Ms. Field departed the meeting shortly before the adjournment of the meeting.

Agenda Items:

Remembrance of Barbara J. Diering

Ms. Barbara J. Diering, the former Executive Assistant to the CAS Board, was laid to rest, with full military honors, on
August 20, 2008, at Arlington National Cemetery after a lengthy battle with cancer. She is remembered for her long and dedicated service and contributions to the CAS Board, which formed the latter portion of a career spanning over thirty years of service to the Executive Office of the President. The Board wishes to dedicate this meeting in her memory.

Pension Harmonization

Mr. Eric Shipley briefed the Board on the informal comments he has received since the publication of the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register (73 FR 51261) on September 2, 2008. The public has made inquiries of Mr. Shipley with respect to details of the ANPRM. Various contractors, industry groups, and professional organizations have indicated that they are working on comments to the ANPRM; some have indicated that, in the course of developing their comments, they are modeling the proposed changes to better understand their implications.

Mr. Shipley indicated that the public has expressed some concerns on whether the proposed changes to harmonize CAS with the PPA were required changes, and whether the proposed changes were subject to a single cost impact proposal or multiple cost impact proposals. The Board agreed that the issues of whether the revisions to CAS as a result of the PPA are a required change and whether the changes should be addressed in one or multiple cost impact statements should be addressed in the preamble to the NPRM and the final rule.

The Cost Impact of a Change in Cost Accounting Practices

Mr. Wong briefed the Board on the draft Staff Discussion Paper (SDP) prepared by the Working Group (WG). The Board was complementary of the efforts of the WG, the details in, and the scope of, the draft SDP. During a lengthy discussion of the draft SDP, the Board provided comments and input on the approach taken by, and the scope of, the draft SDP. The Board directed the WG to revise the draft SDP considering the Board’s comments and inputs.